1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rocket engines. More particularly, though not exclusively, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing a monopropellant assisted solid rocket engine.
2. Problems in the Art
Rocket engines have been used for years to propel various objects or vehicles. Generally, a rocket engine operates as follows. When a hot gas under pressure is produced by the burning of a rocket fuel (the propellant) in a combustion chamber, the gas will exercise an equal pressure in all directions upon the walls within the chamber. If an opening (a nozzle) is made in one wall of the chamber, the gas will stream out of the nozzle at a supersonic velocity. At the same time, a reaction force will be exerted on the opposite side of the chamber. It is this reaction force that thrusts a rocket forward.
Rockets can be classified into solid-propellant, liquid-propellant, and hybrid rockets. In a liquid-propellant rocket, the liquid combustibles are contained in tanks and fed into the combustion chamber through an injector head by a propellant supply system. Most liquid-propellant rockets use two combustibles such as liquid oxygen and kerosene, where the oxygen is provided to combust the kerosene. The propellants are injected at a high pressure into the combustion chamber, at which time the propellants are atomized, mixed, and burned. The hot gaseous combustion products are expelled through the exhaust nozzle propelling the rocket. In a solid-propellant rocket, the propellant consists of combustibles and an agent supplying oxygen for its combustion. The propellant is introduced into the combustion chamber, where it burns producing a hot-pressure gas which is discharged through a nozzle and produces the thrust that propels the rocket. With a hybrid rocket, a liquid oxygen supplying agent can be used in conjunction with a solid combustible, whereby a better control of the thrust developed by the rocket motor is obtained.
The new rocket engine of the present invention is in a class by itself, whereby the liquid is not an oxidizer but a monopropellant.